Red Alert: Radiation Rising and Heading South in Japan

[reefedjib]

STRATFOR's latest on the radiation problems facing Japan. It is not looking good people.

Red Alert: Radiation Rising and Heading South in Japan

Reports from Japanese media currently tell of rising radiation levels in the areas south and southwest of the troubled plant due to a change in wind direction toward the southwest. Ibaraki prefecture, immediately south of Fukushima, was reported to have higher than normal levels. Chiba prefecture, to the east of Tokyo and connected to the metropolitan area, saw levels reportedly two to four times above the “normal” level. Utsunomiya, Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo, reported radiation at 33 times the normal level measured there. Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo, reported radiation at up to nine times the normal level. Finally, a higher than normal amount was reported in Tokyo. The government says radiation levels have reached levels hazardous to human health. Wind direction, temperature, and topography all play a crucial factor in the spread of radioactive materials as well as their diffusion, and wind direction is not easily predictable and constantly shifting, with reports saying it could shift west and then back eastward to sea within the next day. It is impossible to know how reliable these preliminary readings are but they suggest a dramatic worsening as well as a wider spread than at any time since the emergency began.

 

[Councilman]

Here's hoping the 30 kilometer exclusion zone is enough to prevent any massive problems.

I can only imagine the the fear this puts in the citizens who are already traumatized by the Quake and Tsunami.

 

[alexa]

Yes, let's hope this is just a 'transient spike'

The readings at the site rose beyond safe limits - 400 millisieverts per hour (mSv/hr), when the average person's exposure is 3mSv in a year.

A key question is whether this is just a transient spike, which might be expected if number 2 is the source, or whether the high levels are sustained.

BBC News - Japan quake: Radiation rises at Fukushima nuclear plant

You begin to wonder how much more a people can endure.

 

[Mayor Snorkum]

You begin to wonder how much more a people can endure.

The Japanese are tough, they'll endure what they must to survive.

They're kinda like Americans that way.

 

[Goshin]

This isn't a good thing.... but a lot of people don't know that 33 times "normal radiation levels" is still trivial. Normal ambient radiation is less than a millirad, and until it rises to at least 0.1 rad per hour you're not really in any serious trouble.

 

[alexa]

The Japanese are tough, they'll endure what they must to survive.

They're kinda like Americans that way.

When push comes to shove, we are not that different. Our news last night was showing Japanese men in tears and pointing out that the severity of what has happened has removed their usual stoicism.

They will come back, that I don't doubt but I would not like to be going through the hell which they are at the moment.

and back to OP, let's hope this is soon sorted with no more leakage.

 

[Temporal]

There is some concern on the west coast of North America that radiation will arrive here, and some people are choosing to buy potassium iodide from pharmacies to prevent uptake of radiation into the thyroid. I honestly don't know enough to know if the fears are justified or not. It would be nice if this board had any resident physicists who could expand upon it more.

There are doctors claiming that the nuclear clouds will disperse by the time they reach North America, but last time I checked doctors aren't particle physicists. The government will of course say that there is nothing to be afraid of, but they always say that.

Any takers?

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

There is some concern on the west coast of North America that radiation will arrive here, and some people are choosing to buy potassium iodide from pharmacies to prevent uptake of radiation into the thyroid. I honestly don't know enough to know if the fears are justified or not. It would be nice if this board had any resident physicists who could expand upon it more.

There are doctors claiming that the nuclear clouds will disperse by the time they reach North America, but last time I checked doctors aren't particle physicists. The government will of course say that there is nothing to be afraid of, but they always say that.

Any takers?

The radiation will disperse.

The main issue for anyone here would be if you were unlikely enough to inhale one of the cesium dust particles

 

[Goshin]

There is some concern on the west coast of North America that radiation will arrive here, and some people are choosing to buy potassium iodide from pharmacies to prevent uptake of radiation into the thyroid. I honestly don't know enough to know if the fears are justified or not. It would be nice if this board had any resident physicists who could expand upon it more.

There are doctors claiming that the nuclear clouds will disperse by the time they reach North America, but last time I checked doctors aren't particle physicists. The government will of course say that there is nothing to be afraid of, but they always say that.

Any takers?

Nuclear clouds reaching North America??

Pure hysteria.

Look, I grew up during the Cold War with the threat of nuclear annihilation hanging over my head, so I studied radiation extensively. This "nuclear cloud" business is BS. Nobody in Cali needs potassium iodide, and you shouldn't take that crap unless you REALLY need it.

Forget anything you read in Catch-22. That book was practically a compliation of ignorance about nuclear fallout and radiation. If ANY radioactive particles travel from Japan to California it would be very little.... SO little that you'd need a VERY HIGH SENSITIVITY rad meter to even detect a difference... the kind in common use for Civil Defense wouldn't even register the change because it is too tiny to matter.

You'll get more radiation standing in front of a woodstove or a microwave than you're going to get from Japan.